Gerad Good's office mirrors his life.
Sitting on the shelves are displays of a resume that includes hard work and family, two subjects he knows well and is passionate about. Among those items is a collage of clippings and photos from then Manchester College's magical run to the 1994 NCAA Division III national championship game made as placemats for a postseason awards banquet; some art work from his children Kinsley and Miles; several family photos of he, his children and wife Robin; and the 1994 national runner-up team photo emblazoned on oak with the 31-1 record defying time showing faces of such Spartan greats as Kyle Hupfer, Brad Knoy and Burt Paddock along with head coach Steve Alford and his then young children on the floor of Stauffer-Wolfe Arena.
"One of the things I remember the most about that season (referring to 1993-94) was the postseason banquet," he said pointing at the collage above his desk. "It was amazing. We always packed the union with townspeople, boosters and so on at previous events, and that night was no different. We had a video, too, which was something new. We noticed a guy at our games with a camera and wondered who he was, but when we saw the great action and team photos woven with the voice of (former Manchester University student sports broadcaster) Billy Quisenberry talking about every player, it was incredible.
"That was just Coach though … always paying attention to the details," he added. "That's what made and makes him so successful."
If the road back to those halcyon days for the MU and North Manchester community is paved with similar attention as well as the aforementioned hard work and a sense of family, it will reflect how the program's current head coach has written his story. A high school star at Shelbyville, Indiana, his collegiate basketball dreams began on the east coast and then National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics' Husson College of Maine. Despite being part of a successful program that was ranked in the national top 10 both years, the distance between Shelbyville and Bangor, Maine, wore on him.
On a van trip to a game during his sophomore season, a friend had a copy of Sports Illustrated and took notice Alford would be coaching at Manchester College. Good didn't know what lay ahead, but that fact would change things and do so quickly.
"The guys asked me if I knew of the place," he remembered. "I'd heard of it but said 'nobody ever goes there to play basketball.' That happened in January and five months later, preparing for the Whitewater State Park Games with my brother and some other friends, I walked into Columbus East High School gym, and there sat Coach Alford with Kenny Cox (a former Spartans' assistant coach).
"Coach said 'You're late'," he added. "I was thinking 'Wow, Steve Alford is here to see me.' "
With his father, Mel, and stepmother, Shelly, as well as his siblings piled into the car for the visit to North Manchester later that summer, Good's immediate thoughts weren't positive. "I kept thinking this is out in the middle of nowhere, they have all these rules for everything … At the time, I really wanted to walk on and play football at Indiana University with my best friend anyway," he said. "When all of this came up on the ride back, we stopped and had some dinner. During the meal, my dad looked over and said 'If you want to go somewhere else, you'll have to pay your own way. I think Manchester College is a great fit for not only you but our entire family.' I did think it through and decided to go to Manchester. Dad knew all along where I should be, and I'm glad he spoke up because soon after it dawned on me what a great opportunity I had in store."
When he first arrived in a place that he admits "has always been like home", things weren't easy, though. Bad habits off-court, dealing with not going to class, caught up with the then junior as well as the fact that the Alford way was quite different from Husson … more structure including taking notebooks to practice and carrying oneself in a business-like manner.
Two conversations of many with his head coach put Good on a stronger course.
"Most of the discussions I had in Coach's office during my playing days dealt with much more than basketball," he said. "The first one I remember was when we talked about coaching. He told me 'Hey, I hear you might want to do so someday. I could help you with that.'" In the second one that stands out, it was just as meaningful as he said that I needed to leave here with a degree … always looking ahead. The latter visit didn't end in his office, either, as he helped find someone on campus that worked with me to develop a day-by-day and week-by-week schedule for class, work, practice and so on.
"I didn't think so at the time, but I needed (that structure)," he added. "It wasn't only in regards to needing a schedule and organization, either. The intensity of practices was part of it, too. In the beginning, I wasn't used to that and struggled with it. However, after a while, it started to sink in and made me a better person on and off the court."
Fast forwarding to July 2015, with his first season as the Spartans' head coach on the horizon, the MC alum is armed with an arsenal of strategies and philosophies to work with, most coming from the current UCLA head coach and how he led the way to success more than two decades ago in northeastern Indiana. Paraphrasing a popular part of a fight song from a rival institution of his coaching mentor, Good hopes those same ideals will bring back the echoes of what was.
"To me, it all boils down to hard work on and off the court for the young men (who will be in the program)," Good noted. "I remember how intense practices got. It came to blows a few times. Guys were so competitive, but it was also something Coach was teaching us (about hard work) which translated into success in games.
"The same holds true for family," he added. "Coach always had his kids and wife, Tonya, nearby which is something I've seen on my previous coaching stops, too. Steve Lilly at Independence Community College and (head) coach (Rodney) Watson at the University of Southern Indiana incorporated their families into our team events as examples. I remember Coach Lilly having all of us work concessions at other athletic events which included my wife. I want to do those same things and get the larger alumni 'family' involved. There are so many stories of not only on-court glories but post-collegiate success with the guys I played with and beyond. Our current players will hear those often. With hard work and family as part of the picture, we can strive for excellence and have it be achievable."
As he goes back to checking his email and speaking with his son, Miles, he browses through and finds some older action and team photos sent over from the archives of Funderburg Library. "I need to show the current and future players what a tradition has been built here," he said with a smile.
Like its head coach, more reflections of Manchester University men's basketball.